Proclaimer Blog

Doing justice to an acrostic

I'm preaching on Psalm 145 at the weekend. It's one of the acrostic psalms – each couplet begins with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I have been thinking how a preacher in the 21st Century, preaching in English, does justice to this memorable structure. It's almost certain that David wrote the psalm in this way to make it memorable – and indeed many preachers incorporate that into their title – "The A-Z of praise" of "An ABC of the greatness of God." All well and good – but it doesn't really reflect the nature of the psalm does it? Is there any way to be faithful to the nature of the psalm?

Here's one idea – my four teaching points were originally:

Praise the Lord for his greatness (4-7)

Praise the Lord for his grace (8-13)

Praise the Lord for his faithfulness (14-16)

Praise the Lord for his salvation (17-20)

I've now rewritten these to be:

Praise the Lord for he is AWESOME (4-7)

Praise the Lord for his BLESSINGS (8-13)

Praise the Lord for he is the CARER (14-16)

Praise the Lord for he DELIVERS (17-20)

Perhaps, just perhaps, people will now think A-B-C-D and it will make the message (and the psalm) more memorable?

Proclaimer Blog

MLJ memorial lecture

This year's memorial lecture hosted by the John Owen centre (there's a lot of this boy at the moment) is given by Stuart Olyott on the topic of Preaching that gets through – God's Word and our words. Stuart's always good value – even if you don't agree with everything he says, his style and content always makes you think. You can read his article on prayer for our 2010/11 guide here. This lecture is on Monday 24th September 7.30pm at London Theological Seminary. Maybe I'll see you there?

Proclaimer Blog

John Owen and the barn

PT is off to Colchester tomorrow to run a Bible teaching day focusing on the prophets. We'll be working with around 60 local Bible preachers and teachers. This is our first regional venture for some time and we're very excited about it. Our actual venue is the John Owen Barn at Fordham Church. I asked the rector, Mike Neville, how the barn came to be so-named. The answer? Fordham was John Owen's first living – that's quite a history! Now, seeing as John Owen is something of a hero of mine, here are a few resources to find out or read more.

John Owen has his own website here. Well, not his, obviously, but Justin Taylor who's a bit of an Owen fan himself has put this together. The site has a very useful timeline and some helps on how to read John Owen today.

Talking of Taylor – I do like his slight modernisation of three of Owen's works into Overcoming sin and temptation. I still find it easier to read even this modernised version with someone else. Hard work, but immensely rewarding.

For those who want something simpler, Grace Publications have produced simplified versions of five Owen classics: Life by his death (The death of death in the death of Christ), The glory of Christ (Meditations on the glory of Christ), Christians are forever (Perseverance of the saints), Living with the living God (Communion with the Holy Spirit), Thinking spiritually (The grace and duty of being spiritually minded) and What every Christian needs to know (Temptation and the mortification of sin).

Proclaimer Blog

Writing in a wide margin Bible

If you're an ESV user you may be interested to know that Cambridge University Press (who produce fine Bibles) have now added a wide margin ESV to their catalogue. It's not cheap, but if you love wide margin Bibles for note taking, theirs is the best UK text. I use a true-tone Crossway ESV which not only has a wide margin but single column text and, like an old fashioned Bible, each verse starts on a different line – this is great for note taking as it means that there is lots of space around each sentence as well as in the margin. I got mine from amazon UK.

But what do you write with? Some people use pencil – but I find a thin pencil can easily rip the page. Ballpoint is too thick and fountain pen (my weapon of choice) seeps through even "ink-resistant" pages. So I use 0.05mm technical pens – like these by Mistubishi. Ideal.

Proclaimer Blog

Wives’ conferences – what’s it all about?

Next week is the second of our two annual wives' conferences. People sometimes ask why a trust concerned with the proclamation of the Word of God should be bothered about such things? Here's why.

those who are married to ministers of the gospel face a peculiar set of pressures and need targeted and thought through encouragement. It is not enough to be a godly woman when you're married into gospel work. Or, rather, of course it's enough to be godly, but godliness takes a slightly different slant in ministry and needs different focus.

the state of preaching in our churches is intricately linked to the spiritual well being of those who are called to preach – hence "watch your life and doctrine closely." [This is not a "works" link as though the efficacy of preaching was dependent upon godliness. How could it be so? Nevertheless, Scripture does build a connection.] For every married preacher therefore, his marriage and the support of his wife is critical.

There are more good reasons for hosting wives' conferences, but there are two good ones to start. Both the spring wives' conference and summer wives' conference get fully booked – wives NEED this encouragement. We would love churches to take up the burden of paying for ministers' wives to attend – too many pay for themselves and we think churches need to recognise the important role they play in supporting their man.

Booking will soon be open for 2011. Please note that spaces for those with babies are very limited due to the number of child carers we are able to take with us.

Proclaimer Blog

Union with Christ

Came across this little summary by G Walter Hansen in the Pillar Commentary on Philippians – it describes how Paul uses the concept of union with Christ together with the preposition with. I found it very stirring.

Buried with (Rom 6.4, Col 2.12)

United with (Rom 6.5)

Crucified with (Rom 6.6, Gal 2.20)

Live with (Rom 6.7)

Heirs with (Rom 8.17)

Suffer with (Rom 8.17)

Glorify with (Rom 8.17)

Have the same form with (Rom 8.29, Phil 3.21)

Be conformed with (Phil 3.10)

Meditate on those and rejoice!

Proclaimer Blog

How to preach Psalm 8

Had the joy yesterday of preaching Psalm 8. If you've ever wondered how to do that, or want help to do it, there's a model exposition in Hebrews 2. Hebrews is a great book for knowing how to preach Old Testament passages! So here, for what it's worth is my outline:

God the exalted creator

Man the exalted ruler

…but not yet. However……..we do see Jesus. Two key applications (not mine but from Hebrews 2). This means that Jesus is:

a sufficient Saviour (Hebrews 2.14-17)

an effective Helper (Hebrews 2.18)

I'll post the audio when it's up on our church website.

Proclaimer Blog

Why preach Isaiah?

In a world of preaching ‘mini-series’ and sound bites, like ours, teaching Isaiah can seem an impossibly difficult task. The book is vast; its structure is complex, the material is often historically remote from our own times. Not surprisingly, contemporary excursions into Isaiah tend to be restricted to the passages predicting the incarnation at Christmas (Chapter 7, 9, 11 and perhaps 35) and the songs of the servant (especially chapter 53) at Easter. But we miss so much, as a result, and we deprive our congregations of so much benefit and nourishment, which we all desperately need.

It is being convinced of the benefits that will motivate the contemporary preacher to put in the hard work which Isaiah’s magnificent book will undoubtedly demand. We are unlikely to preach it well ‘on the backstroke’, without considerable diligence and effort, because its treasures are not given up easily to the casual observer or skim-reader. But think of what characteristics you would like to see developed in your church life and Christian discipleship and you will find a remarkable match with Isaiah's own concerns. Once that connection is made in your own mind and heart you will need no further persuasion to teach Isaiah.